Burglarproof coffer



June 2, 1936. c. STENGEL BURGLARPROOF GOFFER Filed Feb. 17, 1952 Patented June 2, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BURGLARPROOF COFFEE Charles Stengel, Budapest, Hungary, assignor to Istvan Wittinger and Szilard Stankovits, both of Budapest, Hungary Application February 17, 1932, Serial No. 593,599 In Hungary February 20, 1931 8 Claims. (01. 116-70) The present invention relates to burglarproof Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view, partly broken coffers or safes which are surrounded by air away and part in section, of thedoor of the safe chambers connected to alarm apparatus through and locking devices associated therewith.

pipe lines so that said. alarm apparatus is oper- Fig. 4 is a'diagrammatical view of an alarm 5 ated when the pressure in the air chambers apparatus associated with the safe. 5 changes. In Figs. 1 and 2 the-usual fire-proof layers are Some of the safes of this kind present numerous not shown but may be applied if desired. disadvantages. For instance their walls can be In the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the safe bored Without connecting the air chambers to the has treble walls which form air chambers I and 2 atmosphere, and without operating the alarm hermetically sealed from the atmosphere. All 10 apparatus which can be done by holding the drill the air chambers I communicate with one an- Within an airtight enclosure. It is also possible other so that the pressure within these chambers to cut oif the alarm apparatus from the safe for is the same. The chambers 2 are also interconinstance by pressing or melting together the walls nected, and separated from the chambers I, so

of the connecting pipe, so as to prevent the air that thepressure in the chambers 2 may differ 15 from flowing from the safe to the alarm appafrom that in the chambers I. Preferably in the ratus. chambers I a pressure below atmospheric and in In order to obviate the above disadvantages the chambers 2 a pressure above atmosphericis and to obtain a really burglarproof safe there is maintained. The door 3 of the safe also comprovided according to the present invention a prises three walls forming air chambers I and 2 20 safe with two or more layers of air chambers, connected to the immovable or stationary air such layers totally surrounding the safe and the chambers of the safe by flexible pipe lines 4 and 5 pressures in the interior of these chambers being as is usual in safes fitted with air chambers. different. The arrangement is such that if a The vertical edge of the door 3 extending be- 5 wall of the safe is pierced without communication tween the hinges (not shown) is formed by two of the air chambers with the atmosphere, the concylindrical portions Sand 1 arranged in one antents of the two superposed air chambers are other and forming air chambers I and 2 which mixed, and in consequence the pressure in the air are connected to the other chambers of the door chambers is altered and the alarm apparatus through pipes or ports 8 and 9 respectively. The

operated. flexible pipe 4 connects the annular chamber I 30 Although in this specification I always menof the cylinder 6 to one of the immovable chamtion air chambers, these spaces may be also filled hers I of the safe and the pipe 5v establishes with a gas other than air, or broadly speaking communication between the interior of the cylinwith a fluid. der I and one of the fixed chambers 2. The pipes 5 Another feature of the invention consists in 4 and 5 are long enough to secure free turning constructing the pipe lines, which connect the of the door and are situated in a vertical, longisafe with the alarm apparatus, of two or more tudinal space 4|, so as to be accessible only after pipes communicating with different air chambers removing the door 3.

of the safe and containing air at difierent pres- The safe is totally surrounded by the layer of 40 sures and. arranging said pipes so that if an the air'chambers l aslwell as by the layer of the 40;

attempt is made to cut off the safe from the chambers 2 so that at no point can the safe be alarm apparatus, one of the pipes is perforated, pierced Without passing the drillthrough two air the pressures within the pipes equalized, and chambers containing air at different pressures.

the alarm apparatus operated. The air is sucked out from or admitted into The invention also relates to locking means the air chambers I and 2 for instancethrough adapted to cooperate with the air chambers of pipes I0 leading into the interior thereof. When. the safe and to operate the alarm apparatus if a the desired pressure in the air chambers isestabperson who does not possess all the necessary lished the pipes II] are hermetically sealed and keys or is not perfectly familiar with the lock are not accessible without opening the door 3.

attempts to open the same. Although various types of alarm apparatus 50 In the drawing one form of the invention is indicating the changes'of pressure in the interior shown by way of example. of a container are known, I desire to utilize a Fig.1 is a vertical section of a part of the coffer preferred form of this apparatus shown in Fig. 4 or safe. The apparatus, which may be installed in the 552' Fig. 2 is a partial horizontal section. room of the guard or at the police station, com 55.

A rod I 6 passes through the aperture I4 an forms part of an alarm bell I'I adapted to ring under the action of a spring when the rod I6 is depressed. The construction of this bell may be quite similar to that of the alarm-clocks, which are also operated when a certain part thereof is moved from its normal position.

If the air chambers I are connected to the atmosphere or to the chambers 2 containing air at a pressure above atmospheric, the pressures are equalized and the plate I2 falls down moving the rod. I6 out of its normal position and sounding the bell.

The pipe line or lines connecting this or other alarm apparatus of any known construction to the air chambers of the safe must be, as already mentioned, of such a construction as to prevent the apparatus from being cut off from the safe. With this object in view the connecting line is made of at least two pipes, the pipe I8 of which communicates with the air chambers I and contains air at a pressure below atmospheric, while the other pipe numbered I9 and disposed within pipe I8, communicates with the chambers 2 and contains air at a pressure above atmospheric. By this arrangement any attempt to destroy the pipes I8, I9 causes a mixing of the air contents which are at different pressures and thus the operation of the alarm apparatus, in the same way as in the case of chambers I and 2. According to Fig. 1 the pipe lines are attached to the top of the safe, but it is to be understood that said lines may also be arranged under the floor, in which case they communicate with air chambers situated at the bottom of the safe.

In order to guard against the connecting lines being melted or compressed to form a solid body, the pipe I9 may be made of a material of low melting point, for instance lead and another pipe, numbered 20, may be arranged within pipe I8, said pipe 20 being also connected to the chambers 2 and being made of a rigid and fragile material, for instance glass. By this means both the heating and compression of the pipe line cause destruction of one of the interior pipes and thus mixing of the air charges.

If an apparatus according to Fig. 4 is employed, the bore 2I of the plate II is connected to the pipe I 8, while the pipe I9 may project out of pipe I8. The pipe 20 is connected to pipe I9 within or outside the larger pipe I8. The pipe I 9 may lead to an alarm apparatus which indicates the reduction of pressure in any well known manner.

The alarm apparatus is also operated if the pipe lines or the walls of the safe are melted in case of a fire.

It will be understood that the number of and the pressure in the air chambers of the safe may be varied within wide limits, the essential feature being the provision of at least two air chambers extending over the whole area of the safe, these chambers containing air at different pressures.

The door 3 may be fitted with a locking device of any known construction." Preferably this device is disposed in a cover 23 (Fig. 2) and operates bolts as at 22 which penetrate into sockets as at 24 secured to the wall of the safe and arranged in the interior of an air chamber.

In order to cause a change of pressure in the air chambers and subsequent operation of the alarm apparatus when an attempt is made by a person who is not quite familiar with the lock to open the safe, the device shown in Fig. 3 may be employed. It may be mounted on the rear wall 0 or in any preferred manner as by ledges 1 carried by said wall. It may be stated that one of the bolts 22 is operated by a lock 29, the other bolts 22 (not shown in Fig. 3) being connected to the said bolt in any known manner. Between the keyhole 24 of the lock 29 and the inner wall of the door 3 a small vessel 25 is provided which is very fragile and may be a thin walled closed glass container connected by a flexible pipe 26 to one of the air chambers of the door 3. The container 25 is mounted in a frame 2'! pivoted on a bolt 28 fixed in the door 3. Beside the lock 29 there is another lock 30 including the lockbolt 3I which is pivotally connected to the frame 2'! by means of a connecting rod 32. Behind the keyhole not shown of the lock 30 there is a vessel 34 communicating with an air chamber of the door and being able to swing to the right in the same manner as the vessel 25. Finally, a lock 35 arranged beside the lock 30 is adapted to swing the vessel 34 by a shifting movement of the lockbolt 36, in the same manner as the lock-bolt 3I turns the vessel 25.

In operation, when the door 3 is closed, the parts are in a position shown in Fig. 3 in full lines. The vessels 25 and 34 normally are in the paths of the keys inserted into the keyholes and if it is attempted to force a key into these keyholes, the vessels are broken and the air chambers become connected to the atmosphere causing a change of pressure in said chambers and an operation of the alarm apparatus. The opening of the door is efiected by inserting firstly the key 35a of the lock 35 into its keyhole and turning it, said key engaging a kerf 36b in the bolt 36 and causing said bolt to shift to the right thereby swinging the vessel 34 into the position shown by dotted lines. Now it is possible to insert the key into the keyhole of lock 30 and to shift the lock-bolt 3I by turning this second key,

it being understood that the lock bolt 3| is identical with lock-bolt 36 and similarly operated. This causes the swinging of the vessel 25 into the position shown in dotted lines, so that the third key can be inserted into and turned in the keyhole 24 causing the withdrawal of the lock-bolt 22 shown in Fig. 3. As already mentioned, all the lock-bolts 22 are interconnected in a known manner, so that they are withdrawn simultaneously whereupon the door will be unlocked. For closing the door the lock 29 is operated and thereafter the lock 30 is operated causing the vessel 25 to swing to its normal position behind the keyhole 24; finally the lock 35 is operated for swinging the vessel 34.

In order to make it almost impossible for a person who is not familiar with the locking device even if such person possesses the necessary keys to open the door 3 without operating the alarm, I provide the locking device with a fragile vessel communicating with the air chambers and being normally in a position, in which a certain part of the locking device breaks it during the opening procedure, unless this vessel is moved away in a suitable moment.

For this purpose a vessel 3'! connected to an air chamber by a flexible pipe 38 is pivotally mounted in the locking device. If the door 3 is closed, this vessel 31 is in a position shown in full lines, so that the pointed end of an arm 40 secured to the frame 21 breaks it, when the lock-bolt 3| moves from the left to the right. In order to prevent a destruction of the vessel 31 the pivot 39 rigidly secured to the frame of this vessel, extends to the front surface of the door 3 and ends in a handle 39a. By turning to the right the pivot 39 the vessel 31 will be swung into the position shown in dotted lines, so that the arm 40 will move quite freely. It will be understood that the vessel 31 is swung to the right into its dotted line position by the handle 39a before the lock 30 is operated. Thus the opening procedure consists of the following operations: Turning the key of the lock 35, turning the pivot 39 to the right, turning the key of the lock 30, and turning the key of the lock 29. Should the pivot 39 be turned to the left, the vessel 31 is pressed against the arm 40 and breaks.

I claim:

1. A burglar proof coffer or safe having two non-communicating fluid-containing chambers extending over the whole area thereof, means adapted to cooperate with a pumping mechanism for placing the fluid contents of each chamber under a pressure diiferent from the pressure in the other chamber, alarm apparatus adapted to operate when the pressure in said chambers is altered, a piping system connecting said coifer with said alarm apparatus, said system comprising a conduit connectingone of said chambers with said apparatus, and. piping extending through said conduit and connecting the other chamber with said apparatus.

2. A burglar proof coffer or safe as claimed in claim 1, in which said piping comprises two small tubes one of said tubes being formed of fragile material and the other one of a material of a low melting point.

3. A burglar proof coffer or safe having treble walls forming two layers of hermetically sealed gas chambers, the chambers of one layer communicating with one another and totally surrounding the coffer, means adapted to cooperate with a pumping mechanism for placing the gas contents of each chamber of one layer under a pressure different from the pressure in the chambers of the other layer, alarm apparatus adapted to operate when the pressure in said chambers is altered, and individual pipes connecting said chambers with said alarm apparatus respectively, one of said pipes being arranged within the other.

4. A burglar proof coffer or safe as claimed in claim 3 in which one of said pipes is formed of a 5 material having a low melting point.

5. A burglar proof coifer or safe as claimed in claim 1 comprising a lock having a keyhole therein, a fragile vessel adapted to be moved in register with said keyhole and to be removed from such position, a flexible tube connecting said vessel to one of the chambers of the coifer, and another lock including a part positionable to accomplish said movements of this vessel.

6. A burglar proof coffer or safe as claimed in claiml comprising a lock having a keyhole therein, a fragile vessel adapted to be moved in register with said keyhole and to be removed from such position, a flexible tube connecting said vessel to one of the chambers of the coffer, another look having a keyhole and a part positionable to accomplish said movements of this vessel, a further fragile vessel adapted to move in register with the keyhole of said second look and to be removed from such position, a flexible tube connecting said further vessel to one of the chambers of the coffer, and a third lock having a part positionable to accomplish said movements of the last mentioned vessel.

7. A burglar proof cofier or safe as claimed in claim 1 comprising a lock having a keyhole therein, a fragile vessel adapted to be moved in register with said keyhole and to be removed from such position, a flexible tube connecting said vessel to one of the chambers of the coifer, another look having a part positionable to accomplish said movements of this vessel, a second fragile vessel connected to one of the chambers of the coffer, an arm adapted to press against said second vessel during the unlocking of the coffer, and means for removing said second Vessel from the path of said arm.

8. In a burglar proof coifer or safe at least two non-communicating chambers on the whole area thereof, one of said chambers being charged with fluid at a pressure below atmospheric and another of said chambers with fluid at a higher pressure, an alarm apparatus comprising a fixed plate having a bore connected to that one of said chambers containing fluid at a pressure below 5-1) atmospheric, a second plate held by suction to the first one, a bell, and means operated by the falling of said second plate for ringing said bell.

CHARLES STENGEL. 

